In This Issue
• World Sailing on the verge of bankruptcy
• World Sailing vice-president urges IOC to advance share of Tokyo 2020 revenue to ease financial concern
• 2020 J/70 European Championship Postponed to June 2021
• What's in the Latest Edition Of Seahorse Magazine
• Mirabaud Yacht Racing Image 2020: launch of the eleventh edition!
• Irish Sailing Virtual Meetings of Clubs Discuss COVID-19 Crisis
• West Cork Sailing Dreamtime - Some Day, Summer will Come Again
• Athletics reset Olympic Qualification dates
• Discover Hidden Cork Harbour With Eddie English's SailCork Online Pilotage Course
• America's Cup facing coronavirus stand-off
• Letters to the Editor
• Featured Brokerage:
• • VPLP 72ft Trimaran TRITIUM
• • Rambler 88
• • Cabron - Botin 80
• The Last Word: Warren Buffet
Brought to you by Seahorse magazine and YachtScoring.com EuroSail News is a digest of sailing news and opinions, regatta results, new boat and gear information and letters from sailors -- with a European emphasis. Contributions welcome, send to
World Sailing on the verge of bankruptcy
Even before the outbreak of the corona virus, the economy of World Sailing was under pressure. Large cost overruns had forced the borrowing from the Isle of Man reserve fund, and even then it would just go around until the IOC transfers after the Tokyo Olympics. This reserve fund, which was built up in Arve Sundheim's time as secretary general, was the result of hard-fought financial management where one krone was not spent before it was book, and the IOC funds were carefully divided into five, with four parts distributed over the period between the Olympics, and the fifth part is set aside in a reserve fund. This is no longer the case and the money spent by today's Board of Directors and CEO Andy Hunt has brought World Sailing to where it is now.
This admits to Vice President Scott Perry who, in a conversation with Sail magazine, admits that the situation as a result of the coronavirus and the postponement of the Olympics is now precarious and that several measures are needed to save the union. Perry, whose signature was recently used incorrectly in a letter from World Sailing to video blogger Tom Ehman, emphasizes that if there has been disagreement within the board about some dispositions, now is the time to stand together and take a collective responsibility.
Perry mentions several necessary immediate measures. 1. Reduction in employee wages by 20 per cent, 2. Transfer of funds from the government to emergency aid for small businesses, 3. Renegotiation of the lease at the London offices, and 4. Pre-payment from the IOC. -- Mikkel Thommessen
World Sailing vice-president urges IOC to advance share of Tokyo 2020 revenue to ease financial concern
A senior World Sailing official has called on the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to advance the organisation its share of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games revenue after admitting the postponement of the event had worsened the governing body's precarious financial situation.
World Sailing vice-president Scott Perry told insidethegames pushing back the Games until 2021 "has made our financial challenges more acute" and said the IOC had not yet indicated that an advance would be forthcoming.
The Games being postponed by a year has placed additional pressure on International Federations, particularly those who rely heaviest on the payout from the IOC to survive.
Federations have also been left with an uncertain financial future because of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has sparked a near-total shutdown of sport across the world.
The IOC, which refused to answer questions on Tokyo 2020 payments last week, paid out a total of $520 million (£420 million/€76 million) to International Federations after the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.
The money is distributed using a system where federations are ranked according to their audience and size.
World Sailing, which sits in the fourth group of federations alongside the likes of canoeing, fencing, handball and wrestling, received $12 million (£9.7 million/€11 million) from the IOC for Rio 2016.
The London-based worldwide governing body had forecast an Olympic dividend of €112.24 million ($15.1 million/€113.9 million) from Tokyo 2020, which accounts for some 47 per cent of expected quadrennial revenue.
It is not clear how much Federations stood to receive from the IOC for Tokyo 2020 and it has been suggested the amount could be less or around the same as Rio 2016 owing to issues caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
2020 J/70 European Championship Postponed to June 2021
The International J/70 Class Association Executive Committee, working with the Organizing Authority of the 2020 European Championship to be held in Copenhagen Denmark, has determined, because of the varying levels of infection and disruption across the world, to postpone the J/70 European Championship hosted by the Royal Danish Yacht Club to June 4-12, 2021.
The Executive Committee has been closely monitoring the worldwide developments in the COVID-19 pandemic. They understand the huge commitment of time and money it takes to participate in a major Championship, as well as the enormous resources that our host clubs dedicate to such events. With respect to other major J/70 Class events that remain on the schedule for 2020, the Executive Committee remains in constant discussions with Organizing Authorities and expects to make decisions no less than 75 days prior to the scheduled date for the events.
We hope that this approach will help clarify the way the Class is addressing this evolving situation and allow our Class members to plan accordingly. The Executive Committee plans to meet regularly and will provide updates as needed. In the meantime, the Class wishes all J/70 sailors and their families the best in these difficult times. We look forward to resuming sailing as soon as we can.
Seahorse April 2020
What's in the Latest Edition Of Seahorse Magazine
No limits
Today we can build pretty much anything (almost) - if the materials are good enough, strong enough and light enough
Down to the detail
The story of the development of fibre-film sail material is one of steady development with the occasional bigger step up in product performance. Another such step may be just around the next corner...
Across the Tasman
Two dramatic and tantalising new ocean (and we mean 'ocean') race courses are being shoe-horned into a busy America's Cup summer
RORC news - Time to get moving
Eddie Warden-Owen
Seahorse build table - Now there's a thought
But why did it take so long... Matteo Polli
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Mirabaud Yacht Racing Image 2020: launch of the eleventh edition!
Last year's winning image. Click on image to enlarge
Schedule Photographers are invited to submit their best image taken between 14 October 2019 and 6 October 2020. The 80 best images will be pre-selected by an international jury and published on the event website on October 15, 2020. Public voting will be open between 15 October and 10 November 2020. The 20 best images chosen by the international jury will be announced on October 29 and exhibited at the Yacht Racing Forum.
Prizes Three prizes, including prize money, will be awarded:
The Mirabaud Yacht Racing Image (main prize), awarded by an international jury. The Yacht Racing Forum Award, selected by the 3-400 delegates of the Yacht Racing Forum. The " Public Award ", based on the number of votes cast by the public on the Internet.
Last year, the international jury decided to honour Swiss photographer Loris von Siebenthal and his image taken during a powerful storm on Lake Geneva. Around 18,000 votes were counted, while more than 288,000 pages were viewed on the website. Millions of people watched the images on social networks, contributing to the promotion of the sport and sailing photography worldwide.
Information here: www.yachtracingimage.com
Irish Sailing Virtual Meetings of Clubs Discuss COVID-19 Crisis
A total of 37 Category One Irish Sailing Clubs attended a series of virtual meetings hosted by Irish Sailing. The aim was to introduce David O'Brien - Irish Sailing's new President, to communicate further updates and clarify existing matters arising from COVID 19 restrictions and to share information, ideas and challenges common to Clubs.
The main challenge is the uncertainty of the period for which restrictions are likely to be imposed, making it difficult to plan ahead.
The updates are posted on Irish Sailing's Corona Virus webpage that has been reorganised to give more structure around current restrictions, training briefings, and government supports for SMEs and Clubs.
The main issues and more information in Afloat magazine
West Cork Sailing Dreamtime - Some Day, Summer will Come Again
In locked-down Baltimore in West Cork, the word is that in current circumstances, the most exciting thing that happens during the day is when a dog walks past, taking its sniff-busy morning walk up the empty street. Everybody goes to their window to watch this major event until the canine inspector has disappeared from view, and then they return to the task in which they'd been engrossed.
Those who are making some semblance of working from home for the first time are learning that for most folk, it ceases to be home once you have to do some supposedly income-generating task within its walls. Those social commentators who are predicting that our ways of working will see a marked change once the current situation has got back to something approaching normality seem to be unaware of this inescapable fact. Completely separate work-places are necessary for most people to work. That's all there is to it.
For sure, there are those of us who have always worked from home, but as one of them, I can assure you that it's not a way of life for everyone. And the basic reason we earn a meagre crust in this way is that we probably lack the social skills to function in an interpersonal situation at some sort of work-station with anyone within anything remotely approaching today's mandatory two-metre social distancing.
WM Nixon's full editorial in Afloat
Athletics reset Olympic Qualification dates
With the rescheduled Tokyo Games likely to continue to be effected by the COVID-19 through most of 2020, World Athletics have reset their Olympic qualifying window.
Insidethegames.biz reported that the Olympic qualifying window has been suspended until the start of December 2020, meaning any results achieved between April and then will not count towards either Tokyo 2020 (aka 2021) places or world rankings.
If the pandemic allows, the qualification period will resume at the start of December and end up being four months longer in total than had been planned.
Thus 29 June 2021 will be the final date for results to count towards Tokyo Olympic qualification.
Sebastian Coe, President of World Athletics, said he was "grateful for the detailed work and feedback from our Athletes' Commission and Council who believe suspending Olympic qualification during this period gives more certainty for athlete planning and preparation."
Discover Hidden Cork Harbour With Eddie English's SailCork Online Pilotage Course
Eddie English's Cork Harbour based Sailing School SailCork will use (free) ZOOM technology next week to provide interactive sessions on several different online pilotage and passage planning destinations.
Each session will last between 45 minutes or 1 hr 15 mins.
Go-ahead English says 'we have successfully run these courses in lecture format at the Royal Cork Yacht Club for several years. Our updated interactive presentations are even more engaging!'
One of the courses is 'Hidden Cork Harbour' where local experts might even learn a thing or two.
English, who has been exploring and discovering Cork harbour for years, promises to 'discover every village, landing stage, hidden creek and slipway'.
The course is presented in a lighthearted fashion with interesting historical notes. Run over three evenings in one-hour sessions the course runs on Tue 31 March, Wed 1 and Thur 2 April.
America's Cup facing coronavirus stand-off
The 36th America's Cup comes under more pressure as all the countries involved remain in lockdown.
New Zealand is in the early stages of the pandemic and in the middle of a four week lockdown. A major factor in the low coronavirus cases/deaths is the small, widely spread population and the swift imposition of strict border controls.
These border controls are likely to remain in place after the stage 4 lockdown is eased, with talk of a mandatory quarantine on entry to the country post-lockdown until the virus has stopped circulating globally.
New Zealand's prime minister Jacinda Ardern is quoted as saying, "I really want a watertight system at our border, and I think we can do better on that".
Which could leave the America's Cup in a holding pattern for now . . .
Letters To The Editor -
Letters are limited to 350 words. No personal attacks are permitted. We do require your name but your email address will not be published without your permission.
* From Jock Wishart: re: Svea and Topaz collision
Much has been said!!
I just hope that the "adjudged" guilty party is prevaled by other owners to take on all the costs involved and NOT claim on insurance and hence "risking" no cover on all fleet boats starts of this magnitude.
Something we would not like to see!!
* From Malcolm McKeag:
I remember being told, way back after one of the inshore races of a Champagne Mumm Admiral's Cup in the 'Eighties, by a well-known tactician and now a much respected and successful coach that if I wanted to know what the breeze was doing at the other end of the course I had only to check to see in which direction the coach boats of a certain national team were pointing. He seemed surprised that I didn't already know that.
* From David Brunskill:
RIBS - now much do we need them.
World Sailing is under a lot of pressure from the International Olympic Committee to reduce, as far as possible, the environmental impact of our sport. One way of doing so is to reduce the number of RIBs on the water.
To expand on the various letters on the subject it may be useful to see where RIBs are necessary on the racetrack, where they can be dispensed with now and where they could be in the future.
Where RIBs are necessary:
Ribs are necessary as safety boats in dinghy events. RIBs make ideal mark laying boats. RIBs are ideal as vehicles for on the spot class rules compliance checks after boats finish. RIBs are also ideal and difficult to replace as press/photo boats.
Where RIBs are not necessary now:
Coach RIBs and support RIBs are not necessary for good racing. A number of classes ban them from the water from the first warning signal of the day until the last boat has finished. Spectator RIBs are not necessary - there can be other ways of watching on the water and more interesting ways from the shore particularly when drones are used to track the racing and in particular Rule 42, starts and mark roundings. Spectator RIBs however are more difficult to ban when not associated with competitors unless local laws and regulations can be applied.
Where RIBS will not be necessary in the future:
Umpire RIBS should ultimately be replaced by a combination of drones, more accurate GPS systems, Artificial Intelligence (AIS) and shore based judges watching computer screens. It can easily be foreseen and is already the case that the accuracy of tracker systems can be improved substantially - to within millimetres. With a tracker in the bow and stern of a boat AIS will be able to work out overlaps, relative angles and distances between boats. Supporting computer systems will be able to state when keep clear rules might have been broken. As the cost of technology reduces there may well be cost savings too when compared to the costs of keeping RIBS on the water.
Regatta organisers, parents, supporters & coaches will need to change attitudes towards RIB use. The protection of the planet demands it. What is clear though that none of the forecast "not necessary" changes to RIB use will reduce the enjoyment of what is otherwise an environmentally sound sport.
Featured Brokerage
TRITIUM is a modified Orma 60 Trimaran - stretched to 72 feet. Originally built by offshore veteran, Jean Le Cam, the boat was updated by Artemis Racing for testing of AC wing and dagger foils. The boat was modified - with floats lengthened to 72 feet - and cross beams reinforced, for the new loads.
TRITIUM competed in the 2013 Transpac, where it was First-to-Finish and had the fastest elapsed time. It remains one of the fastest offshore vessels in the Pacific and is ready for new record attempts. She is very well built and seaworthy.
See listing details in Seahorse's RaceboatsOnly
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The iconic RAMBLER 88 is now on the market. One of the most iconic racing yachts on the planet is available to take line honours all over the world. Not only is she very adept at line honours, she is also very capable under handicap.
See listing details in Seahorse's RaceboatsOnly
Contact
Ben Cooper
Telephone: +44(0) 1590 679222
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‘Cabron' has recently gone through a full service and is turn key ready to race.
Designed to chase down the 100 ft Maxis, ‘Cabron' is a world-class race yacht with a build quality to match. No expense has been spared on the maintenance and the condition of the yacht reflects this.
Built by the famous Cookson boatyard, designed by Botin "Cabron" is a high powered racing yacht with Oceanic capability but geared for coastal racing as well (Caribbean 600, The Fastnet Race, Middle Sea race)
With powered winches, a canting keel this Botin designed 80 has a similar displacement of a Volvo 70 but an extra 10ft of waterline making it ultra high powered and capable of keeping up with much larger boats.
She comes with a large inventory of sails and spares and no expense has been spared during her recent complete service. Meticulously looked after by full-time professional crew and a brand new up to date racing certificate "Cabron" is turn-key ready to race anywhere in the world.
See listing details in Seahorse's RaceboatsOnly
Contact
+1(415)-980-9060
www.oceanicyachts.com
See the RaceboatsOnly.com collection at seahorsemagazine.com/brokerage/
The Last Word
It’s when the tide goes out that you see who has been swimming naked. -- Warren Buffet
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